VANLIFE WITH A KID

To be honest, I don’t think we would have ever taken the leap to vanlife had it not been for our daughter. It was only when she came along that we woke up and realized how fast time passes. And for that we will forever be in her debt (just don’t tell her that!). Living in a less than 100sqft home with three people, one of them being a toddler, isn’t rainbows and sunshine all the time. There are days that I wish I could hide. But like I said earlier, she is the reason we are here!! And I wouldn’t trade a single moment (even the bad ones) for anything in the world. We LOVE it!

When we started throwing around the idea of living in a van, we saw almost no one doing it with a kid. Sure tons of solo travelers and couples had been living in converted vans for a bit, but I can only remember one or two people doing it as a family. That was pretty intimidating to us. We want to share our experience with as many people as possible to inspire others to take the leap!

WHERE DOES SHE PLAY IN THE VAN?

We really wanted to have a designated area for Etta Rose to play. I think it’s really important for kids to be able to both explore their imagination with toys and have independent play. On our sliding door, we have a piece of wood that folds down flush with the ground. I tried to make it a fun area, so the bottom piece is girly flowers, and on the door is a magnetic chalkboard. She has all the colors of chalk to draw and doodle, and I can also work with her on letters, numbers, etc. here. Also, it is metal, so she can stick all kinds of magnets to it! Right under her seat (which is next to the sliding door) we have a small basket that easily slides in and out, and this is where she keeps her toys. If you have a kid, you know how nice it is to have toys easily accessible so we as parents don’t have to help her get them in and out each time she wants to play. When we lived in our house, Etta Rose had so many toys. I wasn’t really sure how she would take down sizing to only a small basket. Turns out, she doesn’t even care… at all. Honestly, she doesn’t even play with all of the toys that we did bring!

Although she does have that nice play area in our van, I would dare to say her favorite place to play is in the very front of our van. When we are parked, she loves to hop up in our seats and pull the privacy curtain and make her own little clubhouse. She loves rolling the windows down and having a lot of freedom. If you ever see a white van with a kid hanging out the window and heckling people passing by, it’s us.

WHERE DOES SHE SLEEP?

NOT in our bed. Well, at least not until 5am, haha. It was really important for her to have her own bed. Although a lot of people do co-sleep, we are very selfish sleepers and require an almost king size bed for just us two :) As I mentioned earlier, there aren’t too many van families out there, so we had to scratch our creative heads to think what would work best for us.  When you live in a van, you have to use every inch you have. So her play area doubles as her bed! We store her mattress above the driver and passenger seats on a custom-built headliner shelf. It takes about 30 seconds to set up! I also really like it because she can easily get in and out of her bed without help.

how does she SOCIALIZe?

This was my BIGGEST fear about moving into a van. She was just about to turn preschool age before we hit the road, so I knew she would be missing out on that opportunity to go to preschool and socialize with other kids her age.

We make a point to have an Etta Rose day at least once a week. This can mean taking her to a playground where other kids play, going to an indoor activity area, or participating in a junior ranger program with other kids. In the six months since hitting the road, we haven’t had any trouble finding somewhere for her to play with other kids. We’ve even gotten lucky and met other people living on the road with their kids!

All of my fears about socializing Etta Rose are completely gone. I can say with out a doubt that she has become far more social than she was before we hit the road. Our daughter was a little on the shy side before leaving, but since we started traveling, she has blossomed into her own little personality. She is not afraid to go up to other kids and exclaim, “Hey kids! Want to play with me?” Her confidence has grown immensely. During junior ranger programs, she tells her sometimes-helicopter-parents to stay back because she’s got this.

HOW DO WE GET ALONE TIME?

This one can, at times, be more difficult. Just like most people who have kids, alone time gets more and more scarce once you have kids, so it’s really not all that different from “normal” families. We don’t get to go out on fancy date nights or have a kid-free weekend. However, we do get us time. Our daughter usually goes to bed a couple of hours before we do, making it easy to “Netflix & chill.” Since her bed is at the front of our van, it is as if she is in her own room.

Orry and I don’t often require true alone time. We are really good at coexisting and just getting on each other’s nerves, haha! I think if I ever wanted to be completely alone, Orry could drop me by a coffee shop or a park. It really is simple.

how does she shower/toilet?

I know, TMI. We do get this questions sometimes so I thought I would address it! We do have a shower in our van with hot water. I think we would definitely have one even if we didn’t have a kid, but when you have a kid - you never know when some one is going to need to be hosed down. Inside of our shower is where our toilet is. SUPER lucky for us, she was already potty trained before we moved into the van. Our toilet does require the user to keep pee separate from the poop part, but our daughter can use it with no problem!

WHAT MAKES IT WORK?

I say this ALL the time, and I 100% believe it. Vanlife would never work for us if we were stationary, living everyday 9-5 lives. The sacrifices we make are worth it because of our ever-changing view. Communication is a vital key. There are definitely times when we both feel like we are going to loose our minds trying to be a parent; which is why communication is so important. Usually Orry knows when I’m about to pull all of my hair out, and he is really good to step in and save me from premature balding. That’s when I take a moment to cool off and get it together. It sounds so cliché, but I say all the time you have to keep an open mind and remember to have patience! Kids really require so much less than than most of us realize. I truly think the best gift I can give my daughter is my time.